Snowmen In July
by Love Psycho
Summary: When a mission calls for the Exorcists to deal with a Yuki-Onna that dumped an entire winter on a small region, Yukio notices that Rin seems to be rather subdued lately, despite his success at being an exorcist; lack of proper promotion notwithstanding. Meanwhile, Rin finds out that this "Yuki-Onna" thing is not as clear as people believe... minor future fic spoilers


A/N: Christmas slash birthday present for Gloomiebunny009! Her birthday isn't the exact same as the Okumura brothers, but it's close enough that I'll include them in the package! So, Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Gloomiebunny009, Okumura Rin and Yukio!

I was totally trying for brotherly fluff...got this instead. Blaming watching **Disney's **_**Frozen**_ for this. I will probably re-visit this in another fic, where the events here will be expanded on. Anyways, I hope Gloomie-chan enjoys! I hope everyone else enjoys!

_**Snowmen In July**_

The snow crunching under his feet was an odd sensation. Mostly because it was July and thus not generally the weather for snow.

Which was why Okumura Rin was here, along with the other members of the Cram School. His brother was in front of them, explaining stuff. Rin ignored it, mostly because he already knew what was going on and was _listening_ to something else. He thought he heard someone crying in the distance at odd moments when the wind shifted, not that anyone else noticed. It took a moment for Rin to realize it was because that no one had his ears (physical ears at that) being normal humans and all.

Mission wise, they were all here because of a demon; known as a Yuki-Onna, it was a Spirit (or was that Water? Air? Whatever, it's classification didn't really mean anything to Rin) Class demon that was capable of creating and controlling ice, snow and wind. This area – made up of the village they were currently in, a nearby town and farmlands – had recently been dosed in a big blizzard and covered by dark clouds, forcing it into an unseasonal winter. There had been reports of a strange woman wearing pale clothing wandering around the outskirts of the village, even during a blizzard, as well.

Thus they were here, along with other exorcists who were the ones really responsible for things here. The Exwires were mostly here to gain some experience in the field and to carry the equipment that the others needed, run little errands as well if the Exorcists requested it.

This was all stuff covered in a previous briefing and in the mission outline that Yukio had in his bag. Stuff that Rin already knew. Though, that was mostly because he had flinched the mission outline from Yukio's bag when he wasn't looking.

Rin really wished that Yukio would look after his health more, it was getting easier than usual to sneak things away from him. Of course, that wasn't the only thing he was wishing about in regards to his little brother...

"Okumura-kun." The frosty voice made Rin snap over to look at Yukio. "Do you have any idea what the mission is about?"

Judging by the look on Yukio's face, he didn't expect the answer that came out of Rin's mouth; or the fact it was rather tart.

"Yuki-Onna. The Exorcists are to track her down and exorcise her, the Exwires to stay out of their way and fetch them things. I'm included in the Exwire section. Again."

Yukio – and the others as a matter of fact – looked surprised, but he quickly snapped his mouth shut and gave a terse nod, before telling the Exwires to get to their assigned stations.

Rin ignore this and, once everyone was sufficiently distracted, slipped away.

He paused as he saw some kids, most likely from the village, laughing and running around in the snow. Right now, the snow was a pleasant surprise to them, once they had gotten some warm clothing. If it continued, it would probably take its toll on the mostly self-sustained village, but right now it was all fun and games to the children.

Rin paused at the sight of two children building a snowman. A nostalgic look crossed his face, before he moved on.

There was someone very sad and most likely lost as well he needed to track down.

* * *

If Yukio hadn't been more tired or been quite as busy, he probably would have noticed the slight change in Rin's attitude lately. Or perhaps not, as it was quite subtle and easily over-looked.

The others certainly hadn't really noticed, not until Rin's small "snap" today.

Yukio sighed and rubbed a gloved hand over his forehead. It wasn't that big, but Rin was withdrawn recently. It had started around the beginning of his second year of high school and cram school.

Officially, Rin was suppose to be an Exorcist already – he had even managed to pass the test by some miracle – but considering his "age and inexperience", aka his "heritage as the Son of Satan", in practise he was more treated like he was still an Exwire, abet one who had an Meister in Knight and was currently working on Tamer and, for some odd reason that Yukio was _still_ struggling to understand, _Doctor_. To be fair, Rin was paying attention more to the field aid and demon care parts than anything. He probably wouldn't get the Doctor one until after his final year at True Cross Academy at best, while Tamer wise he was shaping up well. Not only did he had a contract with Kuro (an official one now), he had managed to summon and tame a few other cat demons.

The exact amount of cat demons he had was unknown though, and so far only Shura and Mephisto knew the details of the exact nature of his "cat contracts". Yukio had a few suspicions in that regard though and thought that, if the Vatican knew or guessed the same, it would give another reason for their reluctance to officially promote him to the Lower Second Class he truly was now.

As Yukio went about setting up the first aid tent, the other Doctor Meister Exorcists assigned here aiding him in this, he had to wonder what was weighing on Rin's mind. As reluctant as they were to promote him, the Vatican was no longer considering him dangerous enough to have an execution order over his head. The condition of "behave or be executed" was gone forever; unless something particularly bad happened. So it couldn't be that that was upsetting his brother.

But what, exactly such a thing was, Yukio was at a lost.

* * *

The large white cat bounded through the snow almost happily, dropping down and rolling around it in for a good measure. Its turquoise mane and the various similarly covered tuffs on its joints and the tip of its tail were the only thing keeping it from blending into the snow.

Rin stifled a laugh at the almost goofy look of the Snow Lion, not wanting to accidentally insult Jetsun. Not that it would most like; he was so cheerful and upbeat that there was little that could keep him down.

A loud exasperated sigh was heard though, and Rin looked down at the cat in his arms. The only sign that she was anything but a normal black kitten from this angle was the hints of horns on her head. She frowned at Jetsun. **"You should be more focused. You were called to act as a look out and guide here for Lord Rin and here you are; playing when you shouldn't."**

Jetsun looked over at the kitten with an amused look. **"I **_**am**_** acting as a guide, Tualha. I'm sniffing out for the scent of the being he had heard, yes? If I stop to enjoy the snow here, so full of magic, it is no big deal. The Yuki-Onna's scent isn't strong enough to suggest her being near."** He paused and took a deep breath. **"In fact, aside from a few random snow falls, she hasn't extended her power since the first big change. Curious."**

Tualha Slaith – who, despite her appearance and young age for a demon, was actually rather high ranked in the cat hierarchy – bristled at the fact Jetsun had addressed her so informally, while the Snow Lion wandered off again and was currently tunnelling his way through a snow drift.

Rin soothed Tualha by petting her, the small Cait Sith kitten letting out a soft purr at the skilled hands of the half-demon. "So the Yuki-Onna hasn't really done anything uh?" Rin considered this. "Wonder what her intentions are; it's not common for Yuki-Onna to dump an entire winter on a place's head, right?"

Tualha gave a "mmr". **"Yes, that is true. Yuki-Onna are not known to do such overt acts. They tend to be more subtle, mostly appearing within storms that are natural or can easily be mistaken as natural. No tale I have collected speaks of something like this, that's for certain."**

Still petting Tualha, Rin considered this. It wasn't the only thing he had noticed odd about a supposed "simple mission". Though some of it might have come from him never really getting a truly "simple mission" before, Rin also had noticed something odd about the request for aid that he had read secretly. He couldn't really put his finger on it or anything, most likely because he wasn't that good at book work, but something about the phrasing was off.

That and he knew that most of the Exorcists wouldn't WANT him to "help" them at all, had certainly helped him in his decision to find out where those sobs had come from. Considering they were coming from outside the village and Jetsun had confirmed it wasn't from the Yuki-Onna, Rin had to be curious about it.

Rin had made a point of summoning both Jetsun and Tualha Slaith. Jetsun because, as a Snow Lion, this kind of weather was perfect for him, cold places being his natural environment. Tualha because she was an Irish Cait Sith, and one that was a Bard to boot. Bard meant she collected many tales and despite her young age (for a demon) she was quite skilled and had many tales already.

Both were also easy to please and the "payment" that they asked for their service wasn't that demanding. Tualha pretty much worked for free, as she just added her experiences with Rin to her collection of tales, while Jetsun was satisfied by some play with Rin, with possibly a meal added. All cat demons liked being given payment, hell _all_ demons in fact preferred a "tit for tat" relationship with their summoners. Rin thought that if more Tamers had bothered to actually get to know their demons and treat them well, they would not only have more loyal, less likely to attack them familiars, but they would have taught them some rather interesting things. Shiemi's relationship with her baby Greenman was the only other example Rin had met that did such a thing from the beginning, Izumo only doing so after some trials and tribulations.

The "tit for tat" relationship that Rin had with his summons meant that he generally only went for the easy to please or low on the totem, only pulling out the bigger more expensive ones for dire situations.

Rin really didn't want to think of that time he had to call on a Sphinx...now that was one scary lady cat and it had taken _way_ too long for Rin to come up with the proper payment. Lucky for him, the treaty he had made allowed him to take his time with mostly no penalty, as long as he _did_ pay. The only penalty was that he couldn't really summon the cat demon he "owed" until he had payed for the previous time. He was not allowed "debts" in this regard, which was more for safety sake than anything. Debts were a **bad thing** to have to a demon.

Opening his mouth, Rin halted his speech when he saw that Jetsun had his head tilted and his ears pricked. Listening himself, Rin realized what had attracted his attention. The sobs had resumed and were being carried by the wind to their ears.

"It's a child." Rin said slowly, looking around as Jetsun started sniffing around for the child's scent. "A girl at that."

"**Not the Yuki-Onna that did all of this but..."** Jetsun hesitated. **"She...her scent is similar."**

The Snow Lion then bounded off, Rin racing after him after tucking Tualha into his coat and making sure the small Cait Sith was secured. After a moment, they finally stopped, Jetsun wisely stepping out of the way and allowing Rin to go into the small "cave" hidden in the snow, at the base of a great old tree. Ducking his head into the place, it took only a moment for Rin's blue eyes to land on the small form there.

Still wearing summer clothing, the young girl – looking about the age of a first year at Junior High – was huddled on the ground, crying into her knees. Her hair was a pale blonde, almost white in fact. When Rin hit some debris, causing it to skitter down, her head shot up revealing frail looking features and brilliant teal eyes. _Scared_ eyes. Rin ran his eyes over her form, as he gave a small _harmless looking_ grin. "Woah. Sorry for scaring you...you alright?"

The girl stared up at him, looking a little hesitant. "Um...ah...I'm fine..."

"You aren't dressed for the weather...did you get lost when the storm first hit?" Rin asked, sliding into the bolt hole. The girl looked a little nervous, but Rin ignored that and sat down, reducing the height difference.

"Um...I was...looking for...for Nee-san when the storm hit..." The girl seemed to be calming down a bit as Rin wasn't doing anything to her at all, just sitting across from her.

Considering her clothing again, Rin had to ask; "Hey, are you cold?"

The girl looked away at that. "No...the cold doesn't bother me..." A small movement behind her caught Rin's eyes...something long, thin and white in colour...

And then it clicked.

'_Fucking hell._'

* * *

"Something about this mission stinks."

Yukio sighed and turned to see one Shima Renzō leaning against the "wall" of the medical tent, Yukio briefly wondering how he managed it before dismissing the thought. Renzō had that look on his face that Yukio was still getting used to, even after months since his conversion from an Illuminati member (something that Mephisto had gleefully referred to as a "Heel-Face Turn" whatever that was suppose to mean) and the revelation that the perverted monk was actually not as stupid as his grades said. Having him now drop that laid back, cheerful slacker part of him now and then in favour of someone who noticed _a lot_ was rather unnerving.

Not that the slacker bit wasn't true or anything, Renzō was just more apt to do something now without the whinging. And let out his actually rather formidable awareness be known to others.

The Vatican had decided to be lenient with him, due to his age and all the people protesting their first response; throw him in their private jails for life. They generally had a very poor view of traitors after all, and even if he was just an Exwire he was still part of the True Cross Order the night everything had been revealed. The other reason they were light on him had to do with the High Level Myo-O Demon he had as a familiar. Having _that_ on their side had certainly helped in keeping their punishment of the "wrist slap" variation.

But in the present, Yukio had to deal with a rather tense looking pink haired ex-traitor that was pretty much saying that the excrement was going to hit the fan. "What exactly stinks about this mission?"

Renzō shrugged. "Nothing definite. But...I have been paying attention to the interviews going on. Not sure but something about the villagers' story...there is something off with it. For starters, Yuki-Onna don't generally do such things right?"

Yukio paused for a moment, considering things. The cold weather was helping him stay awake, as was the coffee he was downing like the elixir of life. It also allowed his brain to work better thus. "They tend to just kill one or two people within storms, and even then their strikes are random. Not to mention, they work within the seasons. They are subtle demons."

"And this isn't subtle at all." Renzō finished for him, then he sighed fiddling with his K'rik staff. "Well, I think I'll take a page out of Jū-nii in this."

"Oh?"

A leer slipped on Renzō's face. "First I'll go get Shiemi-chan..." Ignoring the deadly glare Yukio was levelling at him – Yukio figured he had dealt with such a thing way too much so was immune unfortunately – he continued. "Then we'll go play with the village kids."

That had come so out of the left field that Yukio could only stare, flabbergasted, for a long moment. "Um...could you repeat that again Shima-kun?"

Renzō laughed. "Well...most of us have finished our assigned tasks. Koneko would get bowled over, Bon looks too scary, Izumo-chan is too harsh and Rin is currently missing so that leaves Shiemi-chan." Renzō gave a big grin towards him. "See, no one ever really thinks about the kids, but they are everywhere. They tend to notice things and at the least they can tell if something is good or bad right? So I'll take Shiemi-chan, befriend them with her and then coax out what they know about this."

Yukio thought for a moment on that, then nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. Go on and do that Shima-kun, I'll look through the records the other Exorcists will have taken per mission standards. I might be able to pin down what is off with this."

Renzō gave a lazy salute. "Yes, Okumura-sensei!" And then headed to the tent's "door".

Yukio turned back to getting all the medical supplies in the right order – taking special care with the ones that were for the treatment of any kind of cold damage – then it clicked. "Wait...what did you mean Ani is _missing_?"

Of course, by then Shima was long gone, leaving Yukio talking to himself.

* * *

Padding in front of Rin was the form of Jetsun, just like before. Unlike before, he was bounding all over the place and instead kept a steady pace. The reason for this was the girl currently using him as a mount, keeping her senses open and directing them as they went.

The girl's name was Fujisaki Yukina. Her pointed ears, fangs, hints of claws and, most importantly, her tail, proclaimed her heritage for all to see. A jewel like pendant rested over her breast, shining in the light. And not from reflecting the light, but from its own inner glow.

Rin scowled, Tualha poking her head out from his jacket. **"So this is why the Yuki-Onna is acting odd. Hmmm. This will truly be a memorable tale for my collection."**

"Yeah..." Rin took a deep breath, getting his temper back under control. Losing it wouldn't help Yukina at all. "And I'm gonna make sure that it's a happy one."

Tualha turned bright purple eyes up towards her summoner, seeing how angry he truly was. No, not angry; outraged. This entire thing had hit some very sore points within Rin. And no wonder it had:

After all not just one half-demon was involved...

...but _two_.

* * *

Yukio knew things had gotten dangerous even before the Exorcist had rushed in all in a panic. Even with the tent well made and set up with care, he could still hear and feel the cold wind blowing.

"It's a blizzard. Demon spawned and very big." The Exorcist quickly informed him. "The Yuki-Onna sprung it on us when we finally managed to track her down." The Exorcist took a deep breath then, still panting from the excursion of getting through the blizzard to the medic tent. "The children that were playing are missing thanks to the storm. We need to defeat the Yuki-Onna before they are killed by this storm!"

Grabbing the supplies he needed, Yukio suited up for the great storm outside. "The children should be a priority here." Yukio pointed out. "Make up a team to track them down, the rest of us can deal with the Yuki-Onna."

The other exorcist confirmed this, before his voice was lost to the wind and snow. And what a storm it was. A total whiteout, Yukio unable to see more than a inch in front of him. Cursing, he managed to get his goggles over his eyes, struggling a bit due to the wind and his glasses. This kind of storm could utterly destroy the village and its residents as well.

'_Speaking of the residents..._' Yukio, finally reaching the group of Exorcists planning on finding and taking down the Yuki-Onna, saw that a few of the villagers had managed to get their way on the team. Looking at their looks and all, Yukio got a bad feeling about things. Something about their expressions were as off as the request they had first sent and Yukio eyed the weapons they had been granted. A quick question with the team leader revealed that the three men here had experience with guns, if only a bit, and were also determined to get the Yuki-Onna out of their village.

"It would have taken too much time to argue with them otherwise, so I decide to go with it. They know the terrain after all and helped us find the Yuki-Onna the first time. Might be able to help us catch her for the final time. They aren't completely helpless as well, so they won't be a burden on the team." Yukio murmured that he understood and took his place in the formation.

However, even as they worked their way through the blizzard – which had slackened enough for them to find their way out of the village and into the forest where the Yuki-Onna was believed to be – Yukio couldn't help but find the village men suspicious. Something about them was setting off his internal alarm.

It was only once they caught up to the Yuki-Onna and Yukio saw her, that he finally managed to place where he had seen such looks before.

* * *

The Yuki-Onna was, like most of her kind, icily beautiful. Her long, pale blonde hair whipped around in the wind she had brought up. Her eyes were teal and brilliant compared to the rest of her pale, white look, as even her clothing was of pale shades. To Yukio's surprise though, it looked like modern day summer clothing – if rather battered and torn – of a white t-shirt and tan shorts, with pale blue sandals on her feet. The image of her being a normal teenaged girl caught in the storm was shattered by her large ears, the vampire-like fangs in her mouth and the massive claws on her hands, that seemed to be half cartilage and half ice. A necklace was around her neck; a broken one at that, looking like it had been some form of crystal. A lot of light emanated from said broken necklace.

As Yukio carefully loaded his guns and looked over his opponent, the village men were screaming at the Yuki-Onna. Foolish thing to do, but they were calling her out for the disaster that she had brought upon their home. Yukio frowned as he realized that the way the Yuki-Onna was reacting to said taunts was odd for a demon; she kept flinching and looked...almost scared.

"And the children!" One man added. "All the children have been lost within this storm! Have you no shame, you monster!?"

"...children?" The voice of the Yuki-Onna sounded...broken? Sad...horrified...

And that was when it clicked. "Wait!" Yukio attempted to stop the other Exorcists, but at that point the Yuki-Onna let out a scream of sheer despair, bringing the storm in full down upon their heads. Yukio was tossed back violently by the wind, tumbling head over heels.

Only to be caught by a body, only a slight "oof" to show any kind of pain or strain at grabbing him.

Yukio looked up, eyes widening when he saw who at caught him. "Nii-san..."

Rin's own eyes widened in mirror of his brother. "Dammit...Yukio? Shit...Jetsun! Do it now!"

A streak of white and turquoise darted past them, then a great roar rang out into the air. It was so loud and massive it deafened Yukio, the exorcist squeezing his eyes shut in response to the storm and the loud roar.

Then he realized he hadn't gone deaf. Slowly opening his eyes, he then gaped at the sight of the now clear skies. Snow was still there, but the roar had cut right through the storm, destroying it.

Another, female Exorcist next to him – having been caught by Rin as well, Yukio realized – stared in awe at the white and turquoise maned lion in front of them, a little girl carefully stepping down from its back.

"A..Snow Lion?!" The woman – who Yukio then recalled was a Tamer – was in awe. "That's..." She blinked and looked up at Rin. "Wait...that's _your_ summon? What did you do to get a _Snow Lion_ to obey you?"

Rin grinned, as Yukio recalled that Snow Lion were powerful Lion demons, a branch of the Guardian Lion family that lived in mountains and were known for their great power, as well as protective nature. The woman was right to be shocked Rin could summon such a being, as though they were protective, it was difficult task to get them to obey.

"Jetsun likes to play. As long as I play with him every time I summon him, he's fine." There was a pause, as Rin seemed to consider things. "Though I can also just feed him at times..."

Yukio sweated at that. '_Only Nii-san..._' Then he focused once again on the Yuki-Onna when a small voice in front caught his ear.

"Nee-san." The girl who had been riding the Snow Lion approached the Yuki-Onna. She was being slow in her progress, but she strode fearlessly towards the Yuki-Onna...

...because she wasn't just a Yuki-Onna. Looking at the girl, the resemblance was very strong between the two. Yukio saw something swing behind the little girl and it registered as a tail.

"Nii-san...that Yuki-Onna..." Yukio began.

"Her name is Fujisaki Hyōka." Rin told him, and thus all the other Exorcists within hearing range. "She's actually the _daughter_ of a Yuki-Onna, as is her little sister Yukina."

"Half-demon..." Yukio's eyes landed on the broken necklace around Hyōka's neck. Yukina was carefully holding her sister's hand, speaking soothingly to her. The younger sister had much the same necklace around her neck, though her's was unbroken. "Her necklace...it contains her demon heart, doesn't it?"

"And it was purposely broken." Yukio turned to see Renzō approaching, along with Shiemi...and all the children of the village. "This guy," Renzō ruffled the hair of a nearby boy, who grinned up at Renzō, "Saw it. That man there in fact did it." Renzō pointed at the nearest village man, who was staring in shock at the reunion between the sisters.

"None of the adults like the Fujisaki sisters. In fact..." Shiemi hesitated, obviously not wanting to say anything bad about strangers, but then continued on. "Apparently when both of the Fujisaki sisters were little their mother was exorcised. Rumour says that her father-in-law called the Order to take care of her, tricking them into thinking she was a hostile Yuki-Onna."

"And their father is in the town hospital now too." Rin added, a dark look on his face. "He has cancer and they are struggling to not only make ends meet and pay their school bills, but handle his medical bills too."

"And these idiots just made things worse for them." Renzō sounded disgusted. "Fools, if they had just left them alone all this wouldn't have happened!"

Yukio's eyes narrowed and he stood up. "Excuse me a moment."

The village man turned when he heard the sound of feet crunching snow...and was bowled back by the straight punch Yukio landed on his face. "Someone do me a favour and remove these guys from my sight, before I am tempted to pull out my guns." Yukio's dark, but level voice booked no arguments and soon all the village men were tied up and being escorted away.

"Ah...what a splendid finish, hmm Okumura-sensei? Okumura-kun?" Yukio turned to stare, surprised to see Mephisto here. "What are you doing here?"

Mephisto laughed. "Your brother called me. Once he figured that Fujisaki-san was causing such trouble because she couldn't control her powers, he called me up."

Mephisto approached the two Yuki-Onna children, and gave a dramatic bow. "May I express amazement, Fujisaki Hyōka? I can tell how powerful you truly are and rightfully you should have blanketed all of Japan and not just this one area."

Hyōka stared at him in shock. "Re-really? I..." She licked her lips, looking nervous. "I didn't mean for this to happen but...but..."

"With your demon heart out 24/7 it's understandable." Mephisto told her, soothingly. He carefully eyed the broken pendant. "Your mother must have made this for you when you were first born. It is well made indeed, but rather fragile to physical attack...I should be able to easily fix it and even strengthen it..." He turned to Yukina. "I will do the last to yours as well, having a disaster like this happen again would be a bad thing after all."

He held out a hand towards Hyōka. "Well? Will you come with me Fujisaki-san? This is something best done without an audience, though your cute little sister may join of course."

Hyōka hesitated briefly, then excepted his offered hand. And quite suddenly, both the Fujisaki sisters and Mephisto were gone.

Yukio didn't bother questioning that, and instead turned to his brother. He had to smile, as Rin was currently being mobbed by the children of the village. Yukio noticed the black kitten that was currently sitting on Rin's head. It wasn't Kuro obviously, as he was back at the dorm due to eating something that had disagreed with him (and brought down the ire of Rin upon him for eating something bad for him and all). Also, this cat – though also a Cat Sith judging by the horns he could see – had purple eyes, which was rather startling to see on a cat.

"Nii-san..." Rin turned at that, giving a smile at the sight of his brother. "Yo, Yukio. You alright?"

Yukio nodded. "Yes...and thank you Nii-san."

Rin blinked. "Uh?"

"If it wasn't for you, I doubt this would have ended this cleanly." He eyed the Snow Lion which was currently flolicing with the children. "That is quite the familiar..."

"He's more of a friend than anything." Rin admitted, smiling at the sight of the happy Jetsun and children. "Just like Tualha here." He pointed to the cat on his head.

"Tualha?" Yukio blinked at the strange name and met the purple gaze of said cat.

"Tualha Slaith." Rin elaborated. "She's a bard. Tualha, meet my younger brother Yukio."

Tualha gave a meow, then turned to face the children. Rin chuckled. "Sorry...she's busy working the events here into a proper tale. Generally, she's more friendly than that."

"Ah...I see." Yukio felt the awkward silence that descended then. Looking at his brother, he realized that this happened a lot around them nowadays...and that he hated it. "Nii-san..."

Rin waited as Yukio got his voice working for him. "Nii-san...I'm sorry."

Rin looked shocked. "Wait...what? Why are you apologizing?!"

"Because I haven't been a good brother lately, have I?" Yukio gave a wry grin. "I really have been pushing you away and..." He trailed off and thought of all the things he had been keeping from Rin. After a moment, he settled on one. "Hey, Nii-san...what would you think if I became a demon like you."

"Wha...what are you talking about Yukio?" Rin didn't know how he was suppose to respond to that. "You...you didn't get anything from Satan...right?"

Yukio shrugged. "Who knows. But...the chances are not zero that, now that I am grown and not as sickly as before...that I might very well awaken like you. I have no clue if I would have the same powers as you, but that also is a possibility." He then gave a small, slightly scared smile towards Rin. "I wonder if I would be able to control it...and...there was an incident where my eyes..._changed_. So...it is a chance. Even if nothing has been found in all the tests I do, it might still be there, just hidden..."

Rin stared at Yukio for a long moment, before reaching out and grabbing his nearest hand. "If that does happen...if you do lose control...I'll stand by you." Meeting each other gazes, Rin couldn't help the big smile on his face. "You're my brother. Family. I won't abandon you."

Yukio swallowed, feeling a bit teary eyed. "Yeah...same goes for me. I won't abandon you either..."

The silence that came now was much more comfortable. Yukio noted that they were still holding hands, but decided to not complain. Turning, they watched the children run around and enjoy the snow.

"You know...it's been a long time since we last played in the snow together..." Rin noted. Yukio gave a small laugh. "Yeah...not since we were eight, right?"

"I think it was seven..." Rin said softly. Yukio eyed him, then suddenly grinned. "Hey, Nii-san." Rin turned to look at Yukio, a little surprised by the mischievous light in his eyes. "Why don't we show them how to build a good snowman?"

Rin stared at him for a long moment, then laughed. "Sure!~"

* * *

In then end, the snowman didn't last long, as eventually summer returned and all the snow began to melt. There was some damage to the crops of the village, but that was quickly handled. It was the only thing that the True Cross was going to chip in for though. The fact they had endangered themselves and, if Hyōka had even the slightest less control than she had, the rest of Japan had certainly cooled their attitude towards the village. Hopefully, the next generation would be more reasonable. Considering how "cool" the children found both Hyōka and Yukina, that was likely.

Speaking of the Fujisaki sisters, both Hyōka and Yukina were leaving the village along with the Exwires. Hyōka was transferring to True Cross Academy and was going to be entering the Cram School as well. She would be taking much the same lessons as Rin too; though her powers were markedly different from his in element, control wise they were similar. Yukina was going to the Junior High section of True Cross and would be doing some studying in Exorcism as well. Much like Mephisto was for the Okumura brothers, the Fujisaki sisters were now under his domain. Their father's medical bills would be payed as long as he lived as well by the demon.

Renzō, being the most observant, was the first to notice that for the first time in what seemed like forever, Yukio and Rin would truly acting like the brothers they were. Renzō smiled, happy to see both of them relaxed and happy together once again...

...then went to hit on Hyōka. Hey, she might be Half Yuki-Onna and have power over ice and snow, but looks wise she was _smokin_'! The pink-haired monk was fine with risking frostbite as long as he got to admire her lovely, smooth skin and brilliant hair...

-tbc-

A/N: Yup, that's it! Sorry about it, I had OTHER PLANS and all for this fic but well...they got eaten. Plus, the fic would have gotten really long if I had included those bits...meh, like I said will most likely revisit and all in another fic. A longer fic, this would just be one part of it and all.

Magic Christmas themed cake for all the reviewers!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! Be nice to the people you meet who are working on Christmas or otherwise during the holidays! Tip them plenty as well!

~ Love Psycho


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